How to Create a Mood Board for Interior Design
How to create a mood board for interior design
Creating a mood board for interior design is an essential step in the creative process. It helps visualise a space's concept and style before making any physical changes. Whether you're redesigning a single room or finally building your dream home, an interior design mood board can help you organise your ideas, refine your vision, and communicate your design ideas to your home building team.
Here’s how to create a mood board for interior design, from defining your sense of style to storytelling and more.
Step #1: Define your vision
Before creating your interior design mood board, it’s important to define your vision. Here are a few key factors to consider:
- Purpose & Function: Start by understanding the purpose of the space you are designing. Is it a living room, bedroom, office, or kitchen? Each room has different functional requirements that will influence your design choices. For example, a living room might need to accommodate activities like entertaining guests, watching TV, and reading, while a home office needs a layout for productivity.
- Style: Decide on an overall style or theme, like modern, rustic, minimalist, industrial, eclectic, or a combination of styles. Your style will guide your selection of colours, furniture, and accessories.
- Mood: Should the space be calming, energetic, cosy, or sophisticated? The mood will influence your colour palette, materials, and textures. For example, soft blues and greens can create a calming atmosphere, while bold reds and yellows can energise a space.
Step #2: Gather inspiration
Once you have a clear vision, it’s time to gather inspiration! Look for inspiration in magazines, websites, and social media platforms like Pinterest and Instagram. Save images of rooms, furniture, textures, colours, and accessories that resonate with your vision; you can even create collections of images via Pinterest to keep your sources of inspiration well-organised.
Start collecting samples of fabrics, wallpapers, paint swatches, and flooring materials; tangible samples can help you better understand how different textures and colours will look and feel in your space. To collect these samples, visit home improvement stores, fabric shops, and paint stores.
If you decide to build with us, you can visit our Selections Gallery and explore a range of contemporary colours, textures, materials, and finishes. You can also tour multiple display homes throughout New South Wales, where you’ll find complete, cohesive interior designs (complete with decor and appliances).
Step #3: Choose a platform & organise your interior design mood board
How will you build your interior mood board? Digital tools like Canva, Photoshop, or online mood board creators are great for compiling ideas and allowing you to easily arrange and edit your selections.
Alternatively, if you prefer a more hands-on approach, create a physical mood board using a corkboard or a large piece of cardboard. Attach your collected images and samples with pins or glue. Start with a neutral background to keep the focus on your design elements. A plain white or beige background works well as it doesn't distract from your selected items.
Arrange your images and samples in a way that flows naturally. Group similar items, like colour swatches, fabric samples, and furniture images; this organisation helps create a cohesive and visually appealing board. At the same time, avoid overcrowding one area while leaving another sparse. A well-balanced mood board helps you see the overall design and ensures that no single element dominates.
Step #4: Refine & edit your interior mood board
Once your board is organised, take some time to refine and edit your selections. Be selective with what you include; only keep items that resonate with your vision. This is crucial for maintaining the integrity and clarity of your design.
At the same time, ensure all elements on your interior design mood board work harmoniously together. They should complement each other and support your overall style and mood. Look for any items that might clash or disrupt the flow of your board and consider removing them.
At this stage, you might also want to add notes and labels to specific items on the board explaining why you chose them or how they contribute to your overall interior design theme. This will be extra handy when talking to your interior design or home building team.
Step #5: Review & adjust your board
Your new-build interior design concept board will change over and over again as time goes on. For example, if you’re working with a professional interior designer, they might have suggestions and better alternatives, ultimately helping you refine your ideas and create a more cohesive design.
Review your interior design mood board regularly to ensure it still aligns with your vision as you progress through the home design and building process. You might find that some elements need to be updated or replaced.
Get inspired with Shaynna Blaze’s interior design mood boards!
As one of Australia’s favourite interior designers, Shaynna Blaze has curated beautiful spaces worldwide for over 30 years. In her Signature Collection, she has curated four versatile, stylish, and functional interior design mood boards covering multiple decor themes—see how she did it and get inspired below!
Boutique Hotel
This style incorporates classic, traditional colours, modern furnishings, and a pop of colour to create a chic, contemporary design theme. Inspired by bespoke hotels worldwide, the Boutique Hotel style captures a soulful yet inspiring elegance perfect for clean, comfortable living.
Palm Springs
Like its namesake, the Palm Springs style is designed to add a cool holiday vibe to your new Montgomery home. Our take on Palm Springs style features vibrant splashes of colour, statement doors, contrasting patterned wallpaper, and fresh gold fittings to create a fun, laid-back, chic feeling all year round.
Relaxed Bohemian
We’ve made our own eclectic, artistic Bohemian style with our carefree, Relaxed Boho decor. Natural textures like stone and timber create a calm energy for you to build your colour style, making this a great choice for anyone looking to put their own spin on the bohemian aesthetic.
Modernist
Our Modernist theme combines sophistication with minimalism to create a cool, calm, focused interior decor. We’ve integrated natural materials like timber and travertine to shake up the traditional modernist aesthetic and breathe new life into this classic contemporary staple. Show off the elegance of your new Montgomery home with our sleek Modernist collection.
Create a cohesive concept board & interior design becomes a breeze!
An interior design and decor mood board is a fun, ever-evolving way to realise your design aspirations and plan your dream home. It’s essentially a tool that guides the design process for you and your home building team.
At Montgomery Homes, we're the experts in bringing your vision to life. We offer a range of pre-designed interior themes, each crafted to match different styles and preferences. We even have luxe designs created by Shaynna Blaze herself, featuring the curated themes mentioned above.
Share your ideas with us, and our team of experienced interior designers, builders, and planners will work with you to create a contemporary new home design that aligns with your style, budget, and functional needs.
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